The wet garage raise

[wssix99]

I've been getting barely any sleep stressed out that the ceiling will rot and fall down on my truck or tractor.

You are OK. Drywall is fine being wet as long as you can dry it out and you have some time to do that.

Good idea on the vents but like you said, without raising plastic there won't be enough gap to vent and not cutting plastic would be impossible.

I think it's possible. I wasn't sure about my cuts, so I backed off my pilot bit and went pilot-naked with my hole saw for the first bit. I then finished off the hole without the drill and turned my hole saw by hand because I wanted to keep the holes tight. As a result, I don't need any adhesive for the vents.

I cut a small 3" or so slit in plastic about a foot out from the W on each side of the truss. I then black taped a 4ft 3/4" and a 5ft 1/2" clear poly tubing side to side inside the end of my shop vac hose. I taped a fiberglass driveway marker to the 1/2" hose so I could shove it in the cavity all the way to the far end easily and the larger 3/4" hose along side it for extra sucking.

That's a slick plan. Since you have access from the top you can cut the plastic all you want to get pieces in there to tent it or whatever. We now have poly tape to use and you can tape up any slits you make, assuming you want to keep a vapor barrier up there when you are done.

 

[xtremek]

So, is this all because you used blow-in, instead of fiberglass batts?

 

[Sparkynutz]

So, is this all because you used blow-in, instead of fiberglass batts?

No, I didnt finish insulating and the second moisture hit the areas with cold uninsulated plastic it turned to water.
I only had enough insulation on hand to do the middle before I mudded and painted. My priorities were in the wrong order.
Fortunately after turning heat off, fans on and slits open for remaining moisture to get up and out of plastic for 17 hours now it's probably close to 90% dried out. I slept like a baby finally knowing I was on the right track again.
I can tell things are moving with the temp change from stopping heating tho. I can see lots of mud lines, joint lines and dots where screws are when I couldn't see any of that before. Oh well, it's a working garage not an art gallery.

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[RickP]

Sorry to hear about the condensation problems - that is such a bummer after getting the drywall and paint done so quickly. But at least you got it fixed, and the extra batts of insulation will help prevent it from happening again.

If you have any future ceiling repairs, you might actually like having the batts under the blown insulation - they should prevent at least some of the waterfall of cellulose falling in your face when you slice through the vapor barrier.

hang in there - the interior is looking great!

 

[Sparkynutz]

Sorry to hear about the condensation problems - that is such a bummer after getting the drywall and paint done so quickly. But at least you got it fixed, and the extra batts of insulation will help prevent it from happening again.

If you have any future ceiling repairs, you might actually like having the batts under the blown insulation - they should prevent at least some of the waterfall of cellulose falling in your face when you slice through the vapor barrier.

hang in there - the interior is looking great!

After sucking out the majority of water with shop vac, turning heat off and piping fan hoses into cavities about 1/3 were completely dry. Yesterday I taped the holes on the dry cavities up and insulated them completely with batts. The fans are in different cavities 5 of them are hopefully dry after running all night. I'll move the fans and Monday morning insulate everything that is dry. Things are turning back around but after all the heat off and attic work atleast half the seams show now that didnt before. It did look like I did a good job mudding and sanding. Not so much now but as The Essential Crafstman on YouTube would say My garage is still within allowable tolerances. I'm usually way too picky on things that really truly just don't matter.
I wish I had installed wiring for 2 exhaust fans. I had planned on using a portable unit in the garage but now wish I had planned ahead for 2 permanent ones so I can keep windows or doors closed in order to have negative or positive pressure when wanted. I will probably just run conduit on top of wall and install them permanently anyways.

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[Sparkynutz]

Attic first layer of batt insulation is complete. Hopefully it's safe to turn on some heat so I can finish wiring the lights and start organizing things. In spring I plan on pulling insulation back around the light boxes and seal around them with great stuff before putting down a 10" or so layer of cellulose blow in on top of it all.
As thin as insulation on walls is with only 2x4 cavity I'm curious how wet those got and couldn't see behind the drywall. Or because vapor typically goes up the condensation only occurred on ceiling. Thoughts? Experience on that subject?
previous owner insulated two walls with r11 fiberglass insulation and I finished rest of walls and ceiling with r13 fiberglass.
The center section has 5" of insulation under the layer of plywood. hopefully that's enough insulation as well.




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[wssix99]

Or because vapor typically goes up the condensation only occurred on ceiling.

Heat goes up and may convect more vapor, but the big driver is temperature. The water will condence where warm air hits cold. When you have insulation up against drywall, that hot-to-cold point, is usually on the other side of the insulation. (And not at the point where the insulation and drywall meet.)

 

[xtremek]

^ Good to know, thanks for the education.

 

[Sparkynutz]

pics of first layer of batt insulation complete and what garage looks like now. I just crammed what I could in there to organize other garage and get wifes van in before it snows tomorrow.

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[xtremek]

Looks nice and dry.

 

[Sparkynutz]

I looked closer at current lights and made up this to scale puzzle with everything in final locations. The left corner will most likely be floor to ceiling storage shelving at a later date which is why there isn't an extra light there.
There is a pretty big dead spot center of garage so I need to figure something similar to shown after garage door opener is put back up. My uncle has a motion light mounted to his opener support so I might go that route with 4' lights wired into that with either a pullchain or some type of switch to avoid any more penetrations through the ceiling.

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[xtremek]

All I know is that you can never have too much light.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Not a good day. we had below -20 temps last few days and to avoid condensation on plastic again I didnt heat garage. Ceiling corners and windows were solid ice from moisture but none behind drywall so I thought I was good. Yesterday it was warmer so I opened door and a window to try and dry it out but that backfired. humidity is up and foggy outside so now my toolboxes, tools, and pretty much every single thing in the garage is covered in ice.
I closed things up and turned two electric heaters on and my two good fans both died so I am down to one tiny fan moving the air around. Wish I had a ceiling fan installed but I dont have it yet. I thought I was having electrical issues but after checking voltage I knew I was just unlucky with both fans going out at same exact time.
I guess I'll be heating it from now on and spend all day tomorrow wiping things down with towels and wd40.
I hope this is the end of ****** surprises but the way things have gone I doubt it.


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[meathooker]

Amazing tenacity and perseverance getting the garage to its current state. Congrats on the progress!

 

[wssix99]

With a full layer of bat down, I bet that you would have been good through the cold temps; assuming your heater could have kept up.

The higher you keep the temperature the further that hot/cold interface point will push out towards the exterior side of the insulation.

During the snap, my radiant system couldn't put heat into the garage fast enough to cover the loss through the windows and (insulated) doors. This event was incredibly horrible.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Luckily everything warmed up and I was able to fix one of my fans. Pretty sure the drywall dust it was full of didnt help it any.
I do kinda wish I had infloor heat tho so everything that melted off tractor or truck didnt refreeze on the floor. Too late for that now. I'm looking into some type of heat tape or similar to mount to bottom of toolboxes to keep tools warmer when I use them and hopefully avoid the condensation on them when I choose to not heat the garage. When I worked on my truck the other day and I heated garage up the cold tools still sucked the heat right out of me. Hopefully heating tools helps that too.

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[Sparkynutz]

I was bored today so I got my trolley and hoist installed then tested it out lifting one corner of my car trailer in the air.
Trying a single line pull with a rated capacity of 440lb inching up a little at a time watching for the ceiling to break or bow it could barely get the deck weight off the tires. With a running start I got trailer barely higher but tires still touching the ground. With double line pull or 880lb max capacity I was able to get side of trailer and tires off ground about a foot in the air with ease. I set up a ladder next to the hoist with a square to measure ceiling deflection with the weight of trailer as test. Deflection was about 3/16".
I then used a car jack and twin bathroom scales to divide the weight by two.
I only lifted until the back tire was barely off the ground and scales stopped going up. They both max out at 300lb but the needle on one stopped going up 20lb over the 300lb mark and the other stopped at 40lb over the 300 mark. I stopped lifting for fear of breaking the scales but assume the total weight should be relatively close to 660lb but the hoist probably saw closer to 700 or 800lb when I had both tires off the ground and more weight from the trailer.
I'm impressed at how little the ceiling deflected given the weight lifted. The ceiling and hoist should be more than adequate to lift front end of my mower or ATV when changing tires and stuff.


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[Sparkynutz]

oops. forgot to post a few pics.

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[Motoman1100]

That hoist is a good idea, I may try that too.

 

[Sparkynutz]

$115 during 11% off at Menards.
That's the best bang for the buck hoist I could find pound per dollar and actually has better reviews than the more expensive ones I was looking at.
We have the Grizzly version at work but I couldn't justify $280 for basicly the same thing in a different color. Grizzly does sell parts for theirs tho so if I need anything I might see if they are close enough to fit mine. Hopefully I dont need anything and it won't matter.
Harbor freight and Amazon specials were still 25% or more expensive and had many negative reviews.
The only similar priced ones had smaller cables, smaller motor yet same lift rating. Something just didnt add up.

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[RickP]

880 pound lift capacity for $115 -- that is a great deal! I was looking at high lift jacks for lawnmower wheels, but they were more expensive and took up way too much floor space. That lift is a much better solution. I'll be interested to hear how it works for you on the atv and mower.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Little update. Been a while with 3 job changes and finally some free time. Hoping to get around this winter to putting out a start to finish video on the raise and completion of it all.

Last winter my wife accidentally hit the wrong garage door button and didn't check. The door was open for 18+ hours when it was below zero with heater running nonstop. Our bill was extra high that month and everything in the garage got a deep freeze. Luckily paint and glue etc was only thing wrecked. It took 3 days of nonstop heating to get garage back above freezing. Hopefully that never happens again.

My current project is concreting the driveway. Grading is 90% complete. I'll be pouring 1/2 in two weeks with rest next spring. Sure would have been nice to do it sooner but funds and covid prices haven't done any favors.
The deck on back of my house was sagging. Found out two of the posts were almost completely rotted away. I cut them off above ground and dug out what was left then poured 4ft concrete pillars up to the remaining post tops.
I removed two steps from the deck and raising grade between deck and garage to lessen the slope when I raised garage 24"
Remaining steps will now land on top of the framed pad and I'll concrete everything that isn't grass except under the deck. I raised grade under there to a decent slope and compacted. That should lessen some of the sump pump load during rains.

 

[Sparkynutz]

More pics of grading.

 

[PugetDude]

Hey Sparky, you're back! Good to hear you're getting back on track, sounds like the last couple of years have been challenging.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Challenging for sure. Place I worked at 18+ years closed its doors. I jumped at the first good paying job I could find that ended up being managed by very unethical people. I knew it wouldn't last much longer. I put in my notice and took all my vacation to take a $8 hr pay cut to find out they lost the contract and were kicked out before my last day. It was a mess. Luckily I took my tools home before my vacation. Nobody was allowed in the building within an hour of the notice. Anybody off like I was didn't have a chance to grab any belongings.
The next job was very interesting, challenging, good people but overworked underpaid. Trying to take a bathroom break in 10 hours was hard to get with typically eating while working. I had to order parts, manage 6 people that ran 3 lines. All the maintenance and change overs sometimes multiple times per day. What a headache. My wife started working full time during that time frame after 13 years as stay at home mom. She got promoted, a few raises and acceptable insurance. I now took an awesome job with amazing pay riding on her insurance. I work any 3 days I want atleast 8 hours but typically stay 9 or 10 since I get OT after 8 even being part time. The only drawbacks are a very long drive at night with lots of hills, curves, and critters. Winter driving may be a challenge here in Wisconsin. Atleast it's only 3 days and even tho its 2nd shift I make sure the days I don't work are days of school functions, sports, or family plans. Most of the guys I work with are on mandatory 10's 6 days a week jealous of my flexibility but couldn't live on part time pay so they don't hassle me too much. My boss is just happy to have more help and knows if it wasn't for his flexibility I wouldn't be there. Like everywhere they are shorthanded but are on the right track to getting staffed better. Unfortunately they have 4 guys with 30+ years retiring in the next 6 months. I'm hoping I can get into working 1st shift or 2 days of 12s or 15's to make the drive more worthwhile. Time will tell. Extra days off sure helps get projects done. Hopefully this job lasts longer than the rest.

 

[RickP]

Hey Sparky, good see more progress on your garage! Grading all that dirt must be a real PITA, but I'll bet it feels good to get the prior owner's screw-ups fixed.

Sorry about the job shuffle, but it sounds like you found a good one for now. The long commute is definitely a pain, but I always thought it was totally worth it for the right job. Good luck with those WI winter nights -- you'll probably be one of the few cars on the roads along with the plows sometimes...

For your garage door opener, maybe you could wire in a switch for the ceiling outlet, and then only turn it off during the winter.

 

[captain14]

Great progress with the update. When you cut the rotting deck posts off, how much concrete did you have to dig out?

Have you figured out a good way to keep the shop heated and dry during the winter?

 

[Sparkynutz]

For your garage door opener, maybe you could wire in a switch for the ceiling outlet, and then only turn it off during the winter.

I actually flipped the breaker feeding attic lights and garage door opener off for a few weeks. Hopefully it won't happen again that I'll need to.

Great progress with the update. When you cut the rotting deck posts off, how much concrete did you have to dig out?

Have you figured out a good way to keep the shop heated and dry during the winter?

There was no concrete, just bare posts in dirt 4ft down. The lattice looking face boards last owner installed against ground were rotting too. They will be cut off a few inches from final grade and re-installed with new treated cross peices that I'm using for the driveway forms.

I kick myself. I sold about $1k when I raised the garage worth of lumber from forms, bracing etc for $100 to get it out from under the deck after first winter garage was raised. Now it would have been worth $3k easy and woulda used a lot of it.
Live and learn.

Heat is still electric but I added more attic insulation that it stays above 40 with very minimal running if I don't open the door.
I looked into gas heater but break even cost was between 10-15 years depending on use and I only plan to be here another 10-15 years anyways then downsize house with bigger garage after kids move out. My insurance would go up too that wasn't figured into payoff. I frequently paint and weld so staying electric was just safer bet.

 

[xtremek]

Sounds like you bounced around a bit, but landed well. You can keep 2nd shift, it's the ultimate pits, even if it is part time. went back to remind myself where you were and got to the hoist post. I have a 80 year old neighbor who'll I need to get set up with something like that.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Little update.
Driveway is done.

 

[txvwnut]

Looks good.

 

[RickP]

Looks like you got yourself a few extra parking spots!

 

[xtremek]

Very nice.

 

[1949 caddyman]

Looks good!

 

[xtremek]

Since you have so much extra parking space, do yoou mind if I drop off a few things so I can get some working room? Maybe a trailer or two, a couple of trucks, a tractor, and maybe 3 cars. I looks like you've got plenty of room for them.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Little update. Patio and lean to on side of garage.
Definitely came a long way that would not have been possible without lifting garage.

Had issues of dirt washing out during last rain where green drain pipe is laying. I'll probably surround the area with river rock similar to the window well at deck landing.
The white drain is garage floor drain, the black drain is the downspout by rain barrel. I was going to concrete the discharge area thats formed up but ran a bit short on concrete and even had to shorten the step 4 inches to finish a section of the original driveway that cracked and sunk

 

[RickP]

The finished concrete looks really good. You did a nice job with the entire project, from raising the structure to finishing the landscaping.

 

[captain14]

Great looking job. You will enjoy the lean-to. Which direction does it face?

 

[Sparkynutz]

Great looking job. You will enjoy the lean-to. Which direction does it face?

Unfortunately it faces West. Still better than nothing tho.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Turned out pretty good.
Will put some decorative lights in the rocks.